A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from April 02, 2005
Big Tomato (summary)
Sacramento, California came in late to the act. "Big Tomato" and "Sacratomato" both probably date from the late 1970s, well after "Big Apple" and even "Big Orange."

It got its name from the large California tomato industry.


30 December 1985, American Banker, pg. 24:
Sacramento becomes a regional financial center as the "Big Tomato" finds its place in California sun

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Until recently, California's capital, Sacramento, was known derisively as "Sacratomato." On a warm summer day, the aroma from the canneries was like a rich spaghetti sauce.

Sophisticates from San Francisco and Los Angeles viewed the state's third largest metropolitan area as just another pit stop. They were certain that they had a permanent monopoly on the action in the Pacific rim.

But this is not true any longer. "Sacratomato" is the fastest-growing area of the fastest-growing state, according to Bank of America studies, and T-shirts on sale at the airport extol it as the "Big Tomato." Nationally, the area is ranked sixth in terms of economic growth.


12 October 1989, Los Angeles Daily News, pg N3:
It may also be Sacramento's future. As the Big Tomato has stood teetering on the edge of becoming a major-league city for the last few years, developers and politicians alike have warned that San Jose is what Sacramento will become if we're naughty and don't eat all our vegetables.


(OCLC WorldCat)
Title: The big tomato Sacramento :
a guide to California's capital city /
Author(s): Leland, Dorothy Kupcha.
Publication: Sacramento, CA (P.O. Box 162455, Sacramento 95816) : Tomato Enterprises,
Year: 1984
Description: 87 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Language: English
Standard No: LCCN: 84-164401
SUBJECT(S)
Geographic: Sacramento (Calif.) -- Guidebooks.
Class Descriptors: LC: F869.S12; Dewey: 917.94/540453
Responsibility: by Dorothy Alma Kupcha.
Document Type: Book


Posted by Barry Popik
Nicknames of Other PlacesBig Tomato, Sacratomato (Sacramento nicknames) • Saturday, April 02, 2005 • Permalink


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